Custer chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, Black Hills, D.T. [S.D.]) 1880-1890, 1887-01-15
TIE SUlTAN'S APOLOGY.
war Between the United states and the
Tmrka umnnilY ANerfeA

war the Inited states and the
Turks Happily Averted.
Prof. Mortimer f. Cooley. who holds
he chair ot mechanical engineering al
Ann Arbor University, used to be Lieu
tenant Cooley of The United State,
navy, and. although he holds a grave
and honorcd position as a member o
The learned faculty OF that institution
and is quite an enthusiast in his pres
ent work, hc still looks back with long
ing at the jolly times he used 10 have
on board the good ship Quinnebaug.
During tina. cruise TO Europe on the
Qninnebaug, said the professor in the
course Of II chat II few days ago, "wr
anchored for awhile Of Cons,antinople
opposite ,hc sultan palace. The OH
GERS at the palace somehow got the i'm
preston that we were trying to dirt
with the women Of the harem-the
harem looks out upon the water-and
10 fiirt with the Sultan's women is a
crime of very great magnitude in Con-
s;an'inople. 4 don't believe one on
Shipboard knew any thing about the
harem. but that made no difference.
Anyhow, to oblige the officials we
moved down the river, One day two
IF our boys-one 4 them a h~ot-bloodeG
Nentuckian-were out on n little pleas
ant trip. and were being poled down
the river in n Of those Turkish boats
Oy a native. One Of the boys soilcd hi,
fingers somehow, and dipped them in
the water and then dried them with his
handkerchief, the boat being at the
moment directly opposite the harem
4 soldier on duty at the palace saw the
incident and thought. or pretended 10
think, that thu young fellow war try
ing a handkerchief Irritation, He hailed
the bOatman and commanded him to
pull into land. The boys strongly Oh
lected. but the soldier waved his yata-
CHAN and the boatman, who seemed
much frightened, shot the boat to
shore. The soldier could speak no
English and the young men could
speak no Turkish, but it was
evident the w were TO be made
prisoners. Notwithstanding their pro-
tests and resistance they were locked
mp in the palace gnard-room and held
in custody several hours. Then they
were marched out and brought before
IA magistrate. The soldier told his
story. The young men tried 10 ex-
plain in English. and in French aud IN
German, bu' neither the magistrate
nor any one else in the court could un.
derstand. The krntuckian was no.
and showed it. just rs tho magistral,
was about 10 pass sentenee-and u Sc
we're sentence it would have been
gentleman CHANGED to come into corr
who was able to act as interpreter
The Young mcn explained that thcN
were officers OF the United States navy
and knew nothing about the sultan
harcm, and would noi touch one Of his
women with n fo.ty-foot pole. anyhow.
The bows were discharged with (;
caution. But the Kputuckian was TO,
mad To let it rest there. A. soon as ht
got on board he told the story TO tn
captain. q hot-hcAdrd German; he go
mad, too. He sw0re black and blue
md by all TINT wac high aud holy. tina
4 ample repar",ior ans apology wer
not Forthcoming hV would shell tn
unlace. ] might mrntlou that tn
lninnehaug was 4 little sloop with
,ew old guns; aud th~ whole Turks
navy, including n Sr,ti-h wan-of. wa
he Turks had just bought, aas thel
wing in the hari'or. But. Gonner an
D%litZcn! the United States rag ha
tecn insultci. and va would have {
yet satisfaction. The Captain wen
,lraightway to United States Ministe
Iaynard and told the story, and be.
TOO, got mad. Why, he was the mad
lest man Of the three. He started foI
he palace. and pretty 10 hnd "A biz
complaint laid before the sultan. Tn,
'osult Of ii all vs. that 4 few days later
hc Sultan and the Admiral of the
Turkish navy zane with all their
yards and paraphernrlia to visit the
lumnebaug and apologize to the in
,ulted officers. The young men
we're called up aud the Ad-
miral made n speech in Turk
Ssh. The Captain received the apology
with gracious dignity, aud TINS peace
ful relations We're One more estab-
lished between The Turkish nation and
the Q~uinuehaug. The Sultan did the
thing handsomely BY sending us the
next day a present Of two brass cannon
from his private arsenal" Chicago